Hyro Da Hero - Birth, School, Work, Death

Self-described as ‘gangsta rock’, Hyro Da Hero fuses rap, punk and rock, but shuns sampling for a backup band comprising members of At The Drive-In and The Blood Brothers. Naturally, the lyrics are Hyro’s main draw, deconstructing the modern hip-hop scene from materialism and artificial status on ‘We Still Popular’, until its soul, passion and forward-thinking ethos resurfaces on ‘A Conversation With Hip-Hop’. That’s innovative as a hip-hop record alone, but the riffs, breakdowns and complex time signatures thrown into ‘Sleeping Giants’ and ‘Ghetto Ambience’ lend the album a raw, live feel that’s groundbreaking for any genre.